THE RIVER
Let the noise fall away
and meet what rests underneath.
Interactions
I've always been fascinated by the quiet dialogue between artwork, space and the people who enter it.
How it is everything but stillness,
and how it can shift the room around it.
This is actually how The River began, months before my own moment beside her: An intention to create
a long, quiet space guided by a curiosity for how such an artwork might create reprieve.
Every decision, from structure to scale to tone, followed that question. The painting, the room, its location atop Monte Sano, and the viewer were never separate in my mind. They were always meant to meet - gently - in the same breath.
All I had to do was wait for that moment which would become its heart.
That moment arrived on a morning walk, somewhere north of home.
Spring wildflowers.
Leaves rustling. Soft light.
A cardinal in the distance.
Then suddenly, the sound
of water. A River - steadily flowing from behind me and ahead.
It was here that I remembered reading about a tradition, long ago:
whisper your burdens into flowing water and she will carry them away.
So I whispered.
And, I unravelled.
Then began to paint it all.
As if we were never meant to hold
this life alone.
What can I share about painting The River? In truth I nearly abandoned her.
This painting asked more of me than most. It required patience.
Restraint.
Listening.
Presence, not perfection.
Feeling, not control.
It eventually came from letting the noise fall away, and meeting what was underneath;
From fragments of memory, about matter shifting matter.
From trusting The River could hold
and transform it all.
It's a window of shifting tones, soft marks, slow gestures;
The River - along side Stillness -
both mark a return to memory,
gesture and intuitive process.
A more elemental chapter in my work.
Once I let go of the real, memory tapped into it all.
How light lifts from under and above.
How stillness waits beneath the ripples.
How movement feels calming.
And how things that seem dark,
are in fact colour in motion -
however subtle their shift.
The River is both subject, and reflection of life around her.
A Note For Collectors
The River
Oil on Canvas
30x300" (25 f) | 76 x 762cm (7.6 m)
An installation distilled from a single morning
by the water.
One memory. Many reflections.
An expression of letting go.
The River is available for acquisition by interested collectors in its entirety -
artwork panels and frame inclusive.
The work is intended as a single, continuous piece, however where your space and location permit,
it may also be adjusted to sit as a corner piece by Charlotte and her team.
For more information, footage and pricing details,
please click here